She may be Gucci's latest poster girl - and the granddaughter of one of the brand's most famous customers - but it has been suggested that Monaco royalty Charlotte Casiraghi is keen to distance herself from being labelled a model and may, in fact, have only offered her face to the Italian label for one thing - money.

The first image from the 'Forever Now' campaign, which was released in March, saw Casiraghi wearing Gucci's signature red and green scarf tied around her head and resting against a hay bale (with a Gucci bag sat atop, of course). The campaign, which will see four images taken by four famed photographers released over the next two years, highlights Casiraghi and Gucci's shared passion of all thing equestrian - she is a champion show jumper and Gucci's trademark red and green stripe originates from the canvas girth strap of a horse's saddle.

Stéphane Bern, a French celebrity journalist who has covered Casiraghi and her family for years has told the
The New York Times
: "She has absolutely no interest in being a model, she's much too intelligent for that. But competing in horse competitions costs a lot of money. You have to transport your horses one day to Dubai, the next day to Spain, pay for their care, the trainer. Gucci helps by writing checks with lots of zeros."

Casiraghi's grandmother, the late actress Grace Kelly, was a prominent Gucci customer - the now-iconic Flora scarf was originally created at Kelly's request in 1966 - so you'd think Casiraghi would find some emotional bond with the Italian fashion house, wouldn't you? Seemingly not.

In the same article,
The New York Post
cites an interview with Casiraghi in French
Elle
in which she says she has "always refused to associate" herself with any brand, and instead considers the campaign as something which "pays homage to the Gucci spirit, to 90 years of the history of the house, to our common passion for horsemanship. I do not represent any product or any collection."